The book Co-design: A Process of Design Participation discusses the early work of Stanley King and the Co-design group providing an in depth and concise description to the work of community architects and the workshops they facilitated from the 1970s.
The book is so concise in its description it provides task by task instructions to organising, facilitating and disseminating workshops, I think this is a must read for designers who undertake design workshops.
Design education needs to change to accommodate the changing role of the designer. Texts like this clearly demonstrate the complex nature of this type of work, covering organisation, skills, mindset, generative tools and more that is needed to successfully conduct a workshop. In context of the architects here, drawing people’s ideas in real time, there is a clear skill and process to doing this, covered in chapters like, ‘Anatomy of a Co-design drawing’.
Why do I think this book is so important? It shows there is so much more to the co-design workshop than meets the eye, and whilst, we do only learn through practice, I think methods like this, which are so common in our current design practice should be taught in a more in depth and pragmatic way, with a focus on the mindset ideally put on for this process. [From Sarah Drummond's Review]
I picked up a used copy of this book on Amazon earlier this year after Sarah posted a detailed review (with some photos) on her blog. It's got an architectural/urban planning focus but in terms of an overview it's a fantastic model for learning co-design techniques.
Co-Design: A Process of Design Participation By Stanley King, Merinda Conley, Bill Latimer, Drew Ferrari
Share your perspective. Does this book belong in the service design canon? What are the most important points to take away? Please share any links to reviews or other information regarding this book or its themes.
Co-Design 
